Favorite Signal stories from ten years on the air

As The Signal celebrates ten years on the air at WYPR, these are some all-time favorite stories from over the past decade...

In 2005, Aaron Henkin met local actor John Morton, whose claim to fame is that he’s that guy who gets stepped on by an ATAT Walker in The Empire Strikes Back.

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15:04

Stepped on by an ATAT Walker

Bludgers, Quaffles, and the Golden Snitch – they’re all part of the high-flying sport of Quidditch in the fictional world of Harry Potter. In 2011, Signal Matt Purdy reported on how the game has cast its spell on real-world college students.

Baltimore cab driver Ahk Adama took Aaron Henkin for a ride-along back in 2006.

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12:20

Cab driver Ahk Adama

In 2011, some Baltimore “Boy-lesque” performers caught Lisa Morgan’s eye, so she invited them to the studio for a conversation about their magic moves

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14:12

Baltimore Boy-lesque

In 2005, David Franks had just begun an aggressive chemotherapy treatment to battle cancer. It was around this time that he spent a few months visiting with Signal producer Aaron Henkin, recording a series of conversations about his life and work. Those conversations became the basis for this radio biography about the artist. Franks passed away in 2010.

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36:16

a radio biography of David Franks

In 2004, Aaron Henkin tagged along for the day with professional dog walker Matt Fisher.

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7:36

Professional dog-walker Matt Fisher

In 2008, Aaron Henkin took listeners to a church on Eastern Avenue in Fells point, where a choral group keeps alive the American musical tradition of Sacred Harp.

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11:09

music and conversation with Baltimore Sacred Harp singers

In 2004, Lisa Morgan visited with artist Les Harris at his Amaranthine Museum.

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6:33

Al Zaruba's Amaranthine Museum

It’s hard for those of us with our senses intact to imagine a world of blindness, or deafness. Steven Frank, who has Usher’s Syndrome, has learned to live with both. In 2009, Aaron Henkin paid him a visit and made this story.